US Economy Jared Bernstein

Unilever scientists are developing an ice cream that can be stored and transported at room temperature.

President Obama has appropriately led the charge to alert Americans about the crisis and the need for change. At this point, we all know our current healthcare “system” does not work and we have all seen plenty of evidence detailing the symptoms and root causes of healthcare’s failure. The problem, as evidenced by Sunday’s political talk show blitz, is that no one in Washington has addressed the real elephant in the room: healthcare inflation.

In today’s financial economy, many of us are re-evaluating our financial situations and making increased efforts to spend less and save more. As you make these changes, you may find that there are people and obstacles in your life that keep you from meeting these goals…this is what I call your “Crabs in Your Bucket.” Every time you try to make financial improvements, they reach up and pull you back into the bucket with them.

Even as China overtakes the US in the dubious category of “world’s leading greenhouse gas producer” it is also taking the lead in developing the technologies and policies to solve the problem well ahead of the US - - and sell those solutions to us at massive profits which could have been ours.

While most people in our industry are quick to hoist Mr. Bernanke on a pedestal-just as the former maestro Allan Greenspan was—I think the entire institution should be canned.

Smart businesses and investors will now need to crack “The Carbon Code” to figure out  winners and losers — and just how much to adjust their business plans and portfolios.

What matters most is that we learn a lot more about what went wrong and implement some fixes, says economist Jared Bernstein.

So, oil inventories fell again last week, for the fifth week in a row. It was an expected drop as U.S. demand continues to outpace constrained global supply.